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thiru allik kENi - Part 6 - Grace of theLLiya singa perumAL

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sampath Rengarajan • March 7, 1997 


aththigiri  munivar   did  a severe  penance  here  and
sought  the  darshan and blessings of  Lord  narasimhar
here.  Lord Narasimhar appeared here as theLLiya singam
and offered darshan to him. This narasimhar sannithi is
west facing and there is also an ahobila muth narasimhar
sannithi within a block of teh temple. I am told that during the
desikar ursavam and during jeer's visit here
many people throng here to this ahobilam sannithi also.

 This theLLiya narasimhar inside the temple has a very  special
feature
as the muththirai of Utsavar in Telliyasingha PerumAl Koil
is "AahvAyaka Mudhra" (i-e) calling PrahladhA to come near.
Even in the fierce state of destroying the father of PrahlAdhan
for his offenses , Bhagavan Narasimhan did not forget His
Bhagavatha Sisu . Therefore He became TeLLIya Singham
and invite dPrahlAdhan with Vatsalyam to approach closer.
It seems during  the
narasimha avathAram Lord narasimha's kobam was  melting
even  kailyaam  and every one came to  plead  to  lord.
However  the lord didn't pay attention to anyone  other
than prahalada and despite HIS unexplainable anger,  HE
called  prahaladaha using one of HIS hand saying "don't
fear; you  are my ardent devotee and it is due to  your
sathya  graham  that  I  took this  avatharam  to  kill
hiranyakashipu" and by saying so it seems  Lord  called
his  devotee prahalaadha using one hand and  while  the
other hand is assuring HIM that HE is blessing him  all
the times and taking care of him *all* the times.
(refer to my post on Sholingar thala puranam
and  an analysis on narasimha avatharam posted in  this
forum (TWO)  2  years  back ie in 1995 march  for  some  most
important details on narasimha avatharam). It  is  this
clarity  of   mind that Lord had for HIS bhakthAL  when
everyother  demigod and devas and munis and  sages and Shiva  and
all others in all the 7 worlds had in their mind only the "beethi" over
the excessive ushnam (the were afraid if this is mahA praLayam as the "ushnam"
was so excessive) createddue  to  this avatharam. However whenthe Lord
appeared with this kobak kanal to everyone he also showed the face of
kindeness and grace to HIS devotee prahaladahan.  Thus this Lord who  appeared
with  this  clarity  is called as theLLiya  singam (theLLIy means "clear"
or "one with clarity" in tamil)  and
thirumangai praises HIM in his pasuram as

There is also an other Lord who has the
same  muththirai in another of the 108 DD. It is  thiru
nanthi  pura viNNagaram popularly known as nAthan  kOil
near  kumbakonam. This temple is also west facing. This
Lord  was  originally east facing and it is  said  that
this  Lord took an 180 degree rotation (about turn)  to
watch  the wonderful sacrifice of emperor sibi for  the
bird.  This temple nathan koil is also the place  where
shiva's  commander inchief the bull, nandhi  worshipped
our  Lord  Vishnu and got his curse removed  and  hence
named  as nanthi pura viNNagaram as per the request  of
nandhi himself.


 In a way this is also very similar to the very special
vigraham  that  the divya dEsam in thiru naagai  (naagp
pattinam, near kumbakonam) has. In this thiru  vigraham
in  thiru naagai, the next stage of narasimha avatharam
is  featuring. ie Lord is holding prahalAdA in one hand
while  hiranya kshipu is kept down. ie this  is  taking
place  after Lord Narasimha receives  prahaladhan  with
HIS  own hands.


1075:
paLLiyi lOdhi vanNdhadhan siRuvan
 vaayilO raayira nNaamam,
oLLiya vaagip pOdhavaaNG kadhanuk
 konRumOr poRuppila Nnaagi,
piLLaiyaich cheeRi veguNduthooN pudaippap
 piRaiyeyiR Ranalvizhip pEzhvaay,
theLLiya singka maagiya dhEvaith
 thiruvallik kENikkaN dEnE. (2)     2.3.8

The two important ursavars here also reflect the two
srivaishnavas schools and validate that both the school of
philosophies are correct.

Lord parthsarathy in "dhAna" muthirai "shows" us to surrender at HIS feet and
assures that HE will save us once surrendered using this muthirai. This
confirms that the Lord HIMself shows us the path or upaayam of "prapatti" as a
valid path. TheLLiya singap perumal with HIS "AahvAyaka Mudhra" calls HIS
"bhaktha" (bhakathi prahaladhan next to ANDAL, HE is the greatest "bhakthi"maan
as per many opinions) HIS ownself and offers salvation and without any
intellectual play from the bhakthaaL themselves. is This also confirms the
school of thoughts that Lord Takes care of HIS sisu all by HIMself
 and without any intellectual play from the sisu in terms of a upaayam. This
validate thenachaaryaaL's school of philosphy. ie This validate the point and
school of thought that we donot have to do an upayam and Lord the almightly
takes care of all HIS children all the time even without any effort from us.
This validates the school of philosophy on Bhkathi maaragam.
 A coin has two sides and one side is not inferior to the other. They both are
special in some way and they both lead us to HIM as these are the only two ways
to reach HIM as per many acharyALs and azwaars.

Sri Lakshmi samEtha theLLiya singa perumAL thiruvadikaLE charaNam
Sampath Rengarajan